


He Who Commands the Commander

by CrimsonShield75



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Combat, Cunnilingus, Dark Matter at Her Center, Dinner, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fighting, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, LITERALLY, Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect 3: Citadel, Oral Sex, Ryuusei's pre fall, Sex, Smut, Sushi, The Scientific Method of Seducing Shepard, Title Kink, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, armax arsenal arena, dissertation, supernova
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:08:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28745955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonShield75/pseuds/CrimsonShield75
Summary: Commander Shepard has had a hard time dealing with the pressures of saving the galaxy from the reapers. She definitely doesn't have time to deal with the overly enthusiastic mistakes of one Conrad Verner. Little does she know, however, just how much help Conrad can be...
Relationships: Female Shepard & Conrad Verner, Female Shepard/Conrad Verner, Shepard/Conrad Verner
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6
Collections: MEFFW Secret Santa Exchange 2020





	1. Eccentricities

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlyssAlenko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssAlenko/gifts).



> I'm so sorry this took forever and I thank you for being so patient with me! I hope the wait was worth it! Merry *very belated* Christmas and Happy somewhat belated 2021! 
> 
> *******************************
> 
> Many thanks to PersonalMoniker for all his help regarding the tech talk! This fic literally wouldn't have existed without him. And all my thanks, as always, to the lovely potionsmaster for her fantastic beta work! <3

_“I need support! Someone sabotaged the medi-gel dispensers, and I’ve got some idiot preaching about Cerberus down here!”_

The refugee doctor’s words echoed in Bryn Shepard’s head as she made her way through the makeshift refugee camp that the Citadel docks had become in the fight against the reapers. Preaching about Cerberus? Who would have the nerve, and right after they tried to take over the Citadel and assassinate the Council? Only someone with a death wish would be - 

_Oh_. 

Bryn stopped short as she beheld the person attempting to hold court in front of the sabotaged medi-gel dispensers. That was... _no, it couldn’t be_. But it _was_. Conrad Verner? Bryn kept her distance as she watched him, taking in the details of the situation. If she was reading it right, he wasn’t so much as conducting a rally as he was shouting into the void. Yeah, that sounded about right. 

“Cerberus wants our help! And if Cerberus is good enough for Commander Shepard, it should be good enough for us!” he shouted. 

Oh no. This...couldn’t stand. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and made her way over to her number one fan. 

“Conrad, is that you?” 

“Commander Shepard!” he shouted as he stopped his pacing and turned to her. “Boy, is it great to see you again. Guess what? I’ve joined Cerberus, too! Still following in your footsteps, right Commander?” 

“Conrad,” Bryn began, taking another deep, measured breath. “Cerberus just tried to kill the Council. I’m not working with them.” 

“Oh no,” he said, his face falling. “I screwed up again, didn’t I?” 

“It’s fine,” she said, offering him a small smile. She really didn’t like to see someone so disappointed. “I’ll handle it. Just...stay here and don’t do anything, alright?” 

“Alright,” he said, sighing. After a beat, however, his face brightened again. “I might be able to help you with...whatever you’re doing now that isn’t Cerberus.” 

Bryn felt her frustration at the whole situation come to a head. It wasn’t just Conrad and the refugee doctor who needed her help. It was...everything. It was Alenko pointing a gun at her and her almost needing to kill her best friend. It was the pressure from the Council, the krogans and the salarians, and then the turians, not to mention the knowledge that each moment she spent not directly fighting the reapers caused more and more people to die…and here she was, fixing medi-gel dispensers because someone got too excited and thought they were helping…

It wasn’t Conrad’s fault, but he was unfortunately the recipient of her bad mood at the moment. “Conrad, I’m building an ancient, prothean, dark-energy device to stop the reapers. Can you help with _that_?” 

She cringed as soon as the words left her mouth. She knew her tone was harsher than she wanted it to be, and she didn’t want to cause the man any emotional pain. She prepared herself for the fallout, waiting for him to break down, or get offended at his hero talking so roughly to him. But to her surprise, his face brightened considerably. 

“Well, I did write my doctoral dissertation on xenotechnology and dark energy integration,” he said. 

“Wait, really?” Bryn asked, her eyebrows shooting to the top of her head. 

“Yes!” he exclaimed, a grin now splitting his visage in two. “In fact, I may be able to find some ancient tech schematics that could help you with construction. Gimme a few, I’ve got an old contact…” Conrad typed quickly into his omni-tool. “Hmm he’s not picking up at the moment. Come on, Hossle, help me out!” He talked to the glowing orange hologram on his wrist.

“Hossle?” Bryn asked, the name shaking something loose in her head. “Wait, Gavin Hossle? The tech researcher?” 

“The one and the same,” Conrad said, looking up at her. 

“I did a favor for him once...tell him the schematics are for me. He owes me one.” Bryn shook her head at the coincidence of _Conrad Verner_ enjoying a close relationship with one of the most esteemed xenotechnology researchers in the galaxy. 

“Consider it done,” Conrad said, typing again on his ‘tool. “Ah, that got him. He said he’s away from his archives at the moment, but he should be back in a few hours. Then I can get it to you. Oh,” he said, his face falling again. 

“What is it?” Bryn asked, worried that something might have happened with Hossle. 

“Well…” Conrad began, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, nerves seemingly overtaking him. 

“Conrad, time is of the essence here. I hate to be rude, but I do need to get to fixing those medi-gel dispensers…” 

“Oh, right!” he said, his cheeks turning slightly pink. “It’s just...well, I don’t have a way to forward you the information. I don’t have your ‘tool address. And, well, I’d _never_ want to ask you for it, or imply in any way that you should give it to me -” 

“Conrad,” Bryn said, silencing him when she put her hand on his arm. She swore she felt his whole body shiver when she touched him. She shook her head a bit. “Tell you what. You said a few hours, right? Well that’ll be right around dinnertime. Why don’t you meet me at Apollo’s and we’ll grab a bite? You can transfer me the information then, and I might pick your brain a bit about the schematics, if that’s alright with you?” 

“If that’s alright with...y-yes! Yes, that’s great! I’ll meet you there at, say, 1900?” he asked, his eyes bright and his smile the widest she’d ever seen it. 

“1900 it is. I look forward to seeing you there.” She waved as she turned and headed to check out what was causing the dispensers’ malfunction.

“It’s a date!” Conrad called after her.

Bryn realized with a start that it sort of _was_ a date. Was it? No. Then why did she suggest Apollo’s? She could have suggested a wholly less romantic place. Apollo’s...what was she thinking? 

Maybe she _wasn’t_ thinking, she deduced. But wait...no. The more she sifted through her thoughts about the situation, the more she realized that she could just use a friend. Someone who was... _normal_. She giggled. _“You know the galaxy’s a fucked up place when you start thinking_ Conrad Verner _is normal,”_ she thought. 

And yet...he was a reminder of a simpler time, before reapers, before Cerberus, before Saren’s attack on the Citadel. And he was apparently wickedly brilliant. The tech side of her was excited to dig into what he knew about dark energy and xenotechnology. 

So maybe it _was_ a date, but maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

* * *

Bryn felt her heart drop when she saw the line outside of Apollo’s at 1855 that night. _“Damn it,”_ she thought. She knew she should have made a reservation. 

She gazed around, looking for the end of the queue, when she spotted Conrad already in line. Which meant he had gotten there even earlier than she had. Well...that was surprising. And a point in his favor, if she was being honest. _“A point in his favor for_ what _?”_ she asked herself, shaking her head as she made her way over to him. She had to admit he cleaned up well. Not that he’d ever looked _bad_ when they’d met before. Actually, now that she thought about it, he always looked rather good. The beard he sported suited his face, and he had styled his short blond hair in a way that made him look somewhat more...distinguished. 

Or maybe it was the fact that she now knew he had a brilliant mind that made her view him in a more favorable light. She chuckled to herself. She could be such a snob sometimes, she knew, but having someone to geek out about things with _did_ have a certain appeal to it. 

“Hey, Commander!” a voice called, breaking her out of her thoughts. She looked up and smiled as Conrad waved her over. 

“Hello,” she said pleasantly as she approached him. She grimaced as she glanced around at the line. “Sorry about the wait, I didn’t think it’d be this popular. Don’t people know there’s a war going on?” she asked, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb those around her. As much as she detested that life seemed to be proceeding as normally as possible, she still didn’t want to cause a riot or anything. 

For his part, Conrad just shrugged. “I think there’s a certain subsection of people that would rather live in the fantasy, you know? Somehow makes life easier.” 

Bryn considered that for a moment and found she didn’t disagree. But that didn’t solve the immediate problem in front of them. 

“I’m not sure I have the time to wait in this line…” she trailed off, disappointment blooming in her chest at the thought of the failed dinner. 

“Don’t worry!” Conrad said brightly. “I’ve already taken care of it. Oh,” he said, stopping himself short as if he just realized something. “I hope you don’t mind that I’ve made arrangements to go somewhere else. I think you’ll like it.” 

“Uhh, sure,” Bryn said, following Conrad as he stepped out of line and headed to the nearby transit stop. “Where are we going?” 

“I made reservations at Ryuusei’s down in the Wards. Is that okay?”

“Is that o - Conrad, how’d you manage to pull that off? That restaurant has a waiting list a year long, even _with_ a war going on. Wait,” Bryn stopped walking suddenly as a realization hit her. Conrad, for his part, sidestepped her so as not to run into her. She turned to face him, narrowing her eyes. “You didn’t use _my_ name to bypass the waitlist, did you?” 

“What? No, of course not! I’d never do that!” 

“Conrad, you used my name a few times if I remember correctly, something about me pointing a gun in your face…” 

Conrad blushed and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck, his eyes shifting. “Yeah...sorry about that. I...don’t know what I was thinking. Sometimes I get caught up in my head, and what seems to be a good idea turns out to be...really bad.” He paused for a moment, and Bryn had the strange urge to reassure him. He looked truly despondent. 

But as she was about to do so, Conrad spoke again. “But no, I didn’t use your name. I…” he looked nervous again. “I used mine.” 

“Yours?” Bryn asked, eyebrows furrowing. 

“Yeah. I’m...kinda a big deal in the scientific community.” 

Bryn didn’t know what to say to that. It sort of tracked, given his easy access to people like Hossle, and the idea that he seemed to be able to do whatever it was he wanted to, and he had a bit of a platform…

Well. Conrad Verner was famous. 

“That’s good to know,” Bryn said, her smile growing bigger at the look of relief that crossed his face. “Now I _really_ want to pick your brain about dark energy.” 

He gave Bryn a smile of his own at her words. “I’d be delighted.” They’d reached the travel terminal and after a moment, a skycar pulled up beside them. He opened the door and gestured for her to step inside. “After you, Commander.” 

“You can call me Bryn,” she said as she stepped past him into the car. 

“Bryn,” he said, smiling again. “Nice to meet you.” 

And - much to her surprise - Bryn had the urge to echo that sentiment, for she felt as if she had just met the _real_ Conrad Verner.

* * *

True to his word, Conrad had used his name to get them a table at one of the most popular restaurants on the Citadel. It appeared as if he’d been there a few times, as the maître d’ knew him when he walked up to the red velvet rope that protected the restaurant from those without a reservation. 

“This place is amazing,” Bryn said as she glanced around. Bright blue and pink lights shone over the place and there was a giant, fully stocked bar that split the space in two. But by far, the most fascinating part of the whole restaurant was its floor. The entire thing consisted of an aquarium that housed some of the most exotic fish she’d ever seen. 

The hostess brought them to a table right at the edge of the restaurant, tucked into a corner with an almost complete view not only of the majority of Ryuusei’s itself, but of the Wards as well. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows offered a breathtaking look at the large drop off that existed on the other side of the restaurant, allowing diners to gaze at the skycars as they whizzed past and the crowded corridors of the shopping and entertainment districts that dotted the area. 

“We don’t...eat the fish that are below us, do we?” Bryn asked, half-jokingly. While she didn’t _think_ the chef would serve such things, she’d been to stranger places. She was on the Citadel after all. And at a high-end restaurant. They did weird things with food at high-end restaurants, she discovered, much to her annoyance. 

Conrad just laughed. “Of course not. None of these fish are safe for human consumption. I’m sure a krogan would be just fine to slurp one of these guys down, and, well, xenobiology isn’t my speciality, but I’m almost certain an asari would be able to digest some of these guys. But we don’t want to eat them as humans, do we?” His voice took on an almost baby-talk quality as he leaned down and pressed his hand against the floor. “Besides, fish this gorgeous are too pretty to eat.”

“You like fish? To have as pets I mean, not to eat…” Bryn trailed off, looking down at the floor again. “Actually, now that I think about it, it’s kinda messed up to have a _sushi_ restaurant on top of an aquarium. I don’t really like looking my food in its eyes before I eat it.” 

“Well, like I said, good thing we don’t eat these fish.” Conrad gave her a wink and it surprisingly put her at ease. “But yeah, not super into marine biology, either, but I like fish well enough. I never keep many pets around, because I have a hard time keeping them alive, but those automatic feeders for the tanks seem to do the trick.” He waved at his head in a haphazard way. “That whole brain thing...sometimes I’m just absent-minded and forget to feed them.” He grimaced. “I can’t tell you how many fish I’ve driven to an early death. I feel kinda bad about it, to be honest.” 

Bryn’s eyes widened at his admission, her face splitting into a huge grin as she realized she wasn’t the only one who was such a bad pet owner. “Conrad...me too,” she said, giggling. “If I didn’t have my yeoman to feed my fish for me, they’d have died a long time ago...but, automatic feeder you said? Huh, I wonder why one wasn’t included in the original construction of the ship.” 

Conrad went slightly wide-eyed at her admission. “You have a fish tank on the Normandy?” Then, as if speaking to himself, he shook his head. “Of course you do. I forgot it was a Cerberus ship first. Those guys sure do love their luxuries. Hmm,” he trailed off, thoughtful. “It _is_ surprising that they didn’t install an automatic feeder.” He just shrugged. “Budget cuts I guess. Tell you what, I’ll send you one. I’m sure your yeoman would appreciate having that task taken off their plate, what with a war going on and all.” 

Bryn had stopped listening when he mentioned Cerberus. It almost sounded as if…

“Do you know Cerberus well, Conrad?” she asked, unable to help herself. 

For his part, Conrad just blushed, but his answer was delayed due to the arrival of the server. It was interesting to her that this restaurant would still have real people come around and take guests’ orders instead of just relying on a kiosk. High end indeed. They placed their order - a sushi boat and some sashimi - before Bryn turned her attention back to the man sitting across from her. She kept silent though, waiting for his explanation. 

“I wouldn’t say I know Cerberus well…” he began, trailing off. “They contacted me for my expert opinion on the Omega-4 relay. About its location and what I thought would exist on the other side of it. Where it might lead, and what a ship could expect in the galactic core. It was all theoretical...or so I thought. When it came out that you led the Normandy through that relay...I couldn’t believe it. _Omega-4_ , actually real?” 

He shook his head again. “But yeah, I’ve dealt with a few of their top scientists or whatever. Like I said, all theoretical, or so I thought. I really didn’t know they were that bad. To try and kill the Council…” he trailed off again, and looked down at his lap before meeting Bryn’s eyes. When he did, there was a surprising look of fire in them. “If I had known, I never would have worked with them. That’s my biggest fear as a theoretical physicist whose theories are becoming realities - that they’ll be used to cause destruction instead of promote creation. I think about this stuff because I want to know how the universe works, to figure out what makes it tick. But I don’t want that information used for war.” 

Bryn cocked her head to one side, studying the man in front of her. He was so much more than the somewhat overly enthusiastic fan she thought he was when they first met. Yeah, he might have a few foibles when it came to social graces, but really, who among them didn’t? It was almost endearing, the way he sort of revered her...and to find out that he was just as worthy - if not _more_ worthy - than her for praise and adulation? It boggled her mind. He was a very interesting person and she found herself wanting to get to know him better. 

But one part of his small speech struck her. “Wait, you said you didn’t want your ideas used for war...but if you give your expertise to my little project, you’d be getting involved in war. Doesn’t that go against your principles?” 

“If it helps save the galaxy from total destruction, I’d be an idiot to keep my research away,” he answered.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said. “But you wouldn’t be an idiot; you’d be sticking up for your convictions.” 

“No,” he said, with a level of vehemence that surprised her. “I’d be an idiot. This war...this isn’t like a traditional war.” He lowered his voice as he glanced around them. “This isn’t some politician wanting to increase their power, or a corporation wanting to subjugate people and rip worlds of resources, or this isn’t even an invasion of a species we can understand. These guys are AI, a machine race that’s bent on completely annihilating us. We need to do everything - and I mean _everything_ \- within our power to stop them from succeeding.” 

Bryn raised her eyebrows at his slight diatribe, wondering where his passion was coming from. She didn’t fault him for it, but she was a bit of a scientist herself; she liked to get to the bottom of things. Suddenly, a thought dawned on her as to why Conrad might have reacted that way. And it shocked her that it didn’t occur to her sooner. 

“You’re from Earth, aren’t you?” she asked, somewhat softly. 

“I am,” he answered, raising an eyebrow as if he wasn’t sure why _this_ was her response to his small outburst. 

“Did you lose anybody in the attack?” 

“Oh,” he said, seemingly surprised. “No, not that I know of. A few acquaintances have gone dark, you know, people you’d see once every few years at a conference or whatever, but nobody close to me, no.” 

“Your wife okay?” she asked, remembering the first time she had met Conrad and his gushing over how much meeting her would impress the other woman. 

“Oh.” Conrad’s face fell at that. He’d never do well in a game of poker. 

“Conrad, what’s wrong? Is she okay?” Bryn bit her lip, not sure where the conversation would go. She could either have been killed, or maybe she left him? Either way, she was mentally kicking herself for bringing the other woman up in conversation. Though, to be fair to herself, she didn’t know. 

“Well…” he began, before trailing off. “Here’s the thing. I don’t really...have a wife.” 

“What do you mean?” Bryn asked. It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. _“He didn’t have a wife?”_ she thought, still puzzled. _“Like, ever?”_

“I mean I never had a wife. Me talking about her when I first met you was just a way to make you think I wasn’t crazy…” 

Bryn’s second eyebrow lifted to match her first, and Conrad buried his face in his hands. 

“I know!” he said, his voice somewhat muffled. “But I didn’t think I’d see you again! I thought I could get away with it, and it’d be fine, because some creepy old man wouldn’t be asking for your autograph!” 

“Okay, first of all, you’re not creepy,” Bryn said, reaching across the table and gently prying his hands away from his face. “A little overly enthusiastic? Sure. A bit weird that you’ve become a fan of a commander in the military? Yes. But it’s actually quite flattering. I appreciate you, Conrad, and I’m glad you stopped me that day.” 

He grasped onto her hands with his own, holding them gently as he lifted his head and met her eyes. A thrill went through her that she hadn’t felt in a long, _long_ while, and she blinked, wondering at the sensation that was now running from her palms directly to her core. But it’d been such a long time since she’d simply…held hands with someone. She’d been missing that connection. And to find it in someone like _Conrad Verner_? The body really was a mystery sometimes. 

“You are?” he asked, genuine hope in his tone that made her heart contract with emotion. 

“Of course I am,” she said, smiling. “How else would I be able to get plans for my super-secret, galaxy-saving weapon?” She winked at him and saw him blush. 

Thankfully she was saved from having to continue that conversation by the arrival of their food, an intricately stacked array of various fish from planets throughout Citadel space. She had no idea how Ryuusei’s kept its supply chain going, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. The amusing thought crossed her mind that she could probably ask Liara about it - if anybody were to know where her dinner came from, it’d be the Shadow Broker. 

She took a piece of sashimi - some form of eel it seemed - from the top of the pile and popped it in her mouth. It was absolutely delicious. It had a mild, sweet flavor that gave way to a hint of lemon and...some form of red pepper it seemed, creating a smoky finish. All in all, it was exactly what she’d expect from such a high-end restaurant. 

“Mmm, this stuff is good,” she said, already reaching to grab another slice. 

“Isn’t it?” Conrad asked, devouring a piece of asari moonfish. “It’s so good, I eat here about once a week.” 

Bryn almost choked on her water. “Once a week? Doesn’t that...add up?” she asked, trying not to be indelicate. Etiquette was never her strong suit, however. 

“Yeah…” Conrad said, looking out the window at the passing traffic. “I’m gonna miss eating here. Fitting that my last time should be with my favorite person.” 

She tried stoically to ignore the tingling sensation that erupted in her stomach at his words “favorite person” and instead chose to focus on him saying it was his last time. “Wait, last time? Why the last time?” 

“Because I’m essentially broke. I have enough stowed away to live fairly comfortably, and I get some residuals from my book, but I spent all my money caring for the group of orphans I helped escape from Illium. I tried to keep them there as long as I could, but…” he trailed off and looked down for a moment, before turning back to meet Bryn’s eyes. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but that does mean dinners like this will have to stop being so commonplace.” He smiled. 

Bryn tilted her head and looked at Conrad, rethinking how she viewed him in light of all the information she had found out about him that day. A brilliant mind, a caring heart, and easy on the eyes to boot...she could have a worse date, she supposed. 

Realizing she was staring, she cleared her throat. “That was a very sweet thing you did. And hey, it might not matter that you spent all your money anyway...not if we lose this war.” 

“You’re not gonna lose this war,” he said immediately. “I trust you. I trust the Alliance. You can get it done. I know you can. And I’ll do whatever I can in my power to help you.” 

And Bryn didn’t know why, but that - that statement of support, of unconditional belief in her success, without any strings attached, without _wanting_ something from her - almost drove her to tears. She was so grateful for Conrad’s existence at that moment, a shining beacon in a galaxy that was growing dark around her, that she almost reached across the table and hugged him. But no, there was an entire sushi boat between them, not to mention it’d be highly inappropriate.

She cleared her throat again. “So. Speaking of saving the galaxy...care to tell me about that fascinating dissertation of yours?” 

Conrad’s face lit up as he pulled a few more pieces of sushi from the boat. “Yeah! What do you want to know?” 

“Well, to start with, I’m interested to know if Hossle ever sent over those -” 

Conrad interrupted her before she even finished her thought. 

“Oh, right, the plans!” he said, slapping himself on the forehead. “The, uh, whole reason you invited me to dinner.” His cheeks tinged slightly pink. “Yeah, I have them right here. They were a pain to figure out though,” he added, as he typed on his omni-tool. 

“How do you mean?” Bryn asked, leaning slightly forward. 

“Well, Hossle sent them over, but what he _failed to disclose_ was that they were actually notated in an ancient asari dialect. So at first, I thought my contacting him was all for nothing, but then I, uh, remembered you were credited in the recovery of Matriarch Dilinaga’s writings.” 

Bryn raised an eyebrow as he took a breath. 

“Yes, okay, you got me. I may have, um, set up a search watch on your name a few years ago, after that first time we met? Anyway, not important. What _is_ important is, did you know those writings are like a Rosetta Stone for ancient asari dialects? I had no idea! But I was able to use them to make a new translation algorithm that would handle the shift to modern terminology and technical notation. That’s half the struggle with xenotechnology, you know, not every species uses base 10 or 8, or even 2. Imagine, achieving spaceflight without ever inventing binary -” 

“Conrad,” Bryn said, struggling to keep the smile off her face at his enthusiasm. “The schematics?” 

“Right,” he said, taking another bite of sushi. “The schematics. Well, once I ran the algorithm, an interesting thing popped up. Turns out, we aren’t the first ones to try and recreate this kind of tech. The CAD VI immediately flagged the translated schematic as matching a patent filed with the Citadel a few years ago, you know, while you were...uh, nevermind.” He ducked his head for a moment before meeting her eyes again. “Elkoss Combine filed it, if you can believe it. And as I don’t have a license for them, I thought we’d be screwed. Well, wouldn’t you know - as I was trying and failing to discover a work around for that little snafu - I received a message from an E. Di? I wonder what the E stands for?” 

Bryn now clapped her hand over her mouth, hiding her giggle in a cough. Of course EDI got involved. Bryn made a note to thank her when she got back to the Normandy. 

“IP address was hidden, though, so I couldn’t trace it, but they had the license for the Combine - and they randomly sent it to _me_. I don’t know if they’re part of that project you mentioned, and I don’t know if they cloned it or extended it or just...gave it to me, but once I opened it, we were in business. And my god, Commander, whatever ancient asari put the schematic together was a genius. Smarter than anybody I’ve met - and I’ve met a lot of intelligent people. It’s no wonder Elkor hasn’t done anything with it yet, they have so few biotics and do so little with dark energy transformatics, to say nothing of eezo rebalancing or ultracapacitors...needless to say, the work’s incredible.” 

“It is?” Bryn asked, not allowing herself to have a glimmer of hope just yet. 

“Oh yeah. I mean, it’s a little primitive in some ways, certainly compared to a modern biotic amp, but its _capacity_! This technology provides a framework for transferring petajoules - well, the dark matter equivalent thereof at any rate - without static buildup, possibly even going so far as to capture bleedoff to re-use for alternative functions, though to do that would require extensive modifications. I dug into some of the patent license history speculation boards, and cross-referencing the only other record of the patent being licensed traced back to some salarian project I’ve never heard of...financials signed by a...J. Garson? Does that ring any bells for you?” 

Bryn thought for a moment. J. Garson could very easily be Jien Garson - how many J. Garsons could there be in Citadel space? But Jien Garson…

“If it’s who I’m thinking of, I haven’t heard from them for awhile. Since before...well, since _before_ , you know?” she said, still not super comfortable speaking about Project Lazarus in public. 

But Conrad let it go, instead just nodding. “Yeah, I kept track of her a bit myself, if we’re thinking of the same person. Her name caught my eye, because in my experience at least, she doesn’t run in the dark energy circles. Now that I think about it, though, it seems like she’s dropped off the science boards all together…” 

“Conrad,” Bryn said, her excitement at what he found eating away at her patience. “You were saying about the capacity?” 

“Yeah! Sorry. The capacity of this thing is insane. You said you were building some sort of prothean dark energy device?” Bryn nodded. “Well, it’s not common knowledge, but much like humanity, almost all early asari mass effect technology was derived from prothean work. There’s even rumors that the protheans uplifted the asari, sort of like the salarians do now...though careful who you discuss that with. I’ve gotten kicked out of a few places by mentioning that. The matriarchs don’t really like the implication and, well, there’s been no _proof_ , but it’s so similar - once you get past the extra flowing lines and blue overtones the asari like to add to everything.” 

While he paused to take a sip of water, Bryn let her mind wander to the idea that the asari’s expertise could have come from the protheans...just like humanity’s. If that were true...well, she wondered what it would mean for the proud asari to have the same humble origins as her own species.

“Anyway, that’s not really important at the moment,” he continued. “What _is_ important is that - regardless of their origins - it seems like there are all sorts of modern, easily fabricated interfaces between current asari tech and this old stuff. Even if they don’t have a direct connection to the protheans, they live for so long that their tech hasn’t really changed much over the millennia, because, really, you use what you know, right? And so I was able to adapt the schematic a bit, to standardize the control runs. You’ll still need to follow the original designs for the actual power transfer lines and non-baryonic collimators and the eezo nodules every 100 meters - though this is all in the schematics. The point is, you’ll be able to interface with it using a standard omni-tool to monitor flow and any excess gravitational induction before it gets strong enough to, uh, rip whatever you’re building apart. So it seems it should be useful to your project? I hope?” 

Bryn would admit she didn’t follow _all_ of what he said, but she knew enough with her engineering background to be able to understand part of it. But she was no specialist, that was for sure. Not like Conrad was, apparently. She shook her head, still surprised at the turn of events that had occurred that afternoon. _Conrad Verner_ , a genius. Well, it was just another reminder to not judge people from only a few interactions, she supposed. 

“I’m not gonna lie, some of that went over my head. But it doesn’t really matter. I’m not even building the damn thing, I’m just responsible for gathering the people who _can_ build it, and keeping the galaxy from being annihilated before they have time to finish. And it seems to me like you’re one of those people,” Bryn told him. 

His cheeks turned bright red as a flush creeped up his face. “Me? Hardly, I wouldn’t even know where to begin -” 

“Conrad,” Bryn interrupted him, trying to keep her expression serious. “How many people would one, know where to look for this information, and two, _know how to use it properly_? You said it yourself - Elkoss Combine had the schematics for years, but they were never able to do anything with it. In less than 6 hours, you were not only able to translate them from an obscure, ancient asari dialect, you already figured out how to potentially integrate it into our project, without even really knowing what it was, aside from ‘dark energy’ and ‘prothean.’ You’d be a huge asset to the team; Hackett’d be glad to have you.” 

“Wait - Hackett? Commander of the Fifth Fleet, hero of the First Contact War, general badass Steven Hackett is heading up the project?” 

“He’s an admiral, not a general,” Bryn said with a wink. Conrad opened his mouth to explain himself it seemed, then burst out laughing. His mirth was contagious, and Bryn found herself chuckling alongside him, even though the joke was terrible. After a few moments, Bryn had caught her breath enough to continue speaking. “But yes, that Admiral Hackett. Hey, we want the best on this team.” She leveled her gaze at Conrad, all traces of giddiness gone for the moment. “And you’re the best.” 

“I’m hardly the best,” he protested mildly, but the small smile that graced his face told her that she got him. He wanted to work on the project - his scientific curiosity had gotten the better of him. 

“Maybe you are, maybe you’re not. Guess we won’t find out until you try, right?” she asked, a small smile on her lips as well. 

“I…” he began, before trailing off. He looked to the side for a moment, as if taking some time to think, then met her eyes, his own gaze clear and bright with excitement. “It would be my honor.” 

“The honor’s all mine, Conrad,” she said, her smile widening as she opened up her omni-tool and sent a message to Hackett informing him of her newest acquisition for the Crucible team. “Honestly, I think with your help, we might actually have a fighting chance.” 

His blush deepened, his cheeks now a flaming crimson. “You can’t mean that,” he murmured. 

She met his eyes again, putting the entire weight of her “commander” persona behind it. “I do,” she said. “You might just be the missing piece we need.” 

He fell silent at that, dropping his eyes from hers. “Thank you,” he said quietly. 

She smiled. “I mean it,” she insisted. 

“I know,” he replied. He smiled again and grabbed the last pieces of sushi from the boat. “I’m excited to get started.” 

“I’m excited for you to get started, too. You’ll get read in tomorrow.” 

“Can’t wait,” he told her.

* * *

They finished up dinner quickly, the rest of the conversation amicable and easy between them. It shocked her how effortlessly the conversation flowed. Although they didn’t have a lot in common, Conrad’s genuine interest in what she said allowed her to talk without fear she was boring him. 

She liked talking to him so much, in fact, that when their dinner finished, she found she didn’t want to say goodbye. 

But just like before, Conrad seemed to be a step ahead of her. 

He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, nervousness overtaking him. “So, uh, I know you’re super busy, and you just said dinner because it was the most efficient way of getting the information about the schematics...but did you perhaps wanna go to the Strip with me? Maybe check out the arcade or whatever? If you don’t have the time, I totally understand,” he rushed to add. 

She smiled, happy that he found the courage to ask her to continue hanging out. “Of course. I’d love to,” she told him. And the beaming smile she received back at her answer informed her she wasn’t going to regret saying yes, no matter what they ended up doing. 

* * *

They arrived at Silversun Strip and Bryn was once again taken aback by how _normal_ life seemed. People going out, having fun, engaging in leisure activities, all while others in the galaxy were being systematically slaughtered…

“What’s wrong?” Conrad asked, turning to her. 

“Nothing,” she said, immediately pasting a smile on.

He gestured for her to follow him and headed to the side of the busy walkway, allowing the stream of people to continue past them. “Something’s wrong,” he said, with a concerned expression. 

“I told you, I’m fine,” she insisted. 

He stared at her for a long while before ultimately shrugging slightly. “If you say so,” he said, turning to head back into the crowd. 

“Wait,” she called after him. He stopped and pivoted back to face her, but stayed silent. 

“It just still shocks me,” she said quietly. He stepped closer to her to hear her voice over the din of the Strip and she found her pulse quickened as he got nearer. 

“What shocks you?” he asked, his voice matching hers in tone. 

“This,” she said simply, sweeping her arm out in front of her to encompass the whole of the Strip. “This...idea that life can go on normally, while billions and billions of people are getting murdered every day. How can they go on living, go on _celebrating_ life like this, knowing the immeasurable tragedy that is occurring right at this moment?” 

Conrad stepped towards her again, now so close she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. “Sometimes, the tragedy gets to be too much. Sometimes, you do what you can to stave off the depression, have a bit of fun before it gets taken away forever. Sometimes it helps to just...live in the moment, because you never know when that moment could be your last. If the reapers attacked the Citadel tomorrow, what would you want your last moment to be? Cowering in your apartment waiting for death? Or out, enjoying your final moments with friends?” 

Bryn swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. If she was a civilian, if her life had taken a different path, and she had the chance to choose what her final moments would be, would she act any differently? Or would she just do what these people were doing, enjoying life to the fullest, squeezing every ounce of fun, comfort, _happiness_ out of the days that they could, before they’re taken away from them forever? 

She already died once, and she didn’t regret how it happened, not really. She died saving one of her good friends, and doing her job. 

But now she had a chance to do it over, essentially. She could choose to do something for _herself_ for once. But should she? 

The heat radiating off Conrad muddled her thoughts, but it also made her pulse speed up and - there it was again - a feeling of comfort settled within her as she looked at him. She had a strange compulsion to get closer to him still, to absorb his energy. She had the fleeting thought that she never wanted to be far away from him again, because if she was, she’d miss that feeling. And she wanted to do whatever she could to make sure that never happened. 

“I -” she began, but faltered, as her voice was rough-sounding. She cleared her throat and thought through her feelings again, wondering if she was just letting herself get caught up in the moment. 

“Bryn?” he asked, softly. 

“I think I’d be honing my skills in the arena,” she said with a small smile. 

Conrad looked shocked for a brief moment, before a smile of his own split his face. “You wanna?” he asked. 

“Do I want to what?” she asked, furrowing her brow in confusion. 

“Do you want to go hone your skills in the arena?” 

“Now?” 

“Now,” he concluded. 

“But...what would you do?” 

A glint entered his eye. “I’d join you of course. Pass up the opportunity to see the great Commander Shepard in action? No way.” 

“But...what would you _do_?” she asked again. There was _no way_ Conrad Verner could _also_ be good with a gun. Like - he couldn’t be a brilliantly smart scientist _and_ good with his hands, right? 

She shivered slightly at the butterflies that erupted in her stomach at _that_ thought, biting her lip at the images her mind conjured. Shaking her head, she tried to clarify. “Like, you wouldn’t want to join me _in_ the arena, would you?” 

He just shrugged. “Why not? Like I said, I’d never give up the opportunity to see you up close. It’d be one of the coolest things to watch you take down enemies, even if they are holographic.” 

“But you’d be a target, too,” she protested. 

He shrugged again. “I got you to watch my back. I trust that you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.” 

He began walking toward Armax Arsenal Arena, and Bryn had no choice but to follow. But as she did, she wondered if she really wanted to spend the night protecting Conrad from holographic enemies. At least she would be able to get some of her frustration out, even if she couldn’t be as careless as she usually was.

“After you,” he said when they reached the entrance of the Armax Arena building. Bryn eyed him again, wondering what she was getting herself into. Was she really bringing a man who had no combat experience whatsoever into the arena with her? 

But she noticed the perpetual grin he had worn ever since she agreed to go and found she didn’t want to do anything to remove that expression from his face. 

Well, shit.

She smiled at him as she walked through the door, the familiar sights and sounds like a sweet homecoming she hadn’t realized she missed. 

“Alright, Conrad, I have a permanent locker here with a set of armour and a few weapons, but you’re going to need to rent some. Get yourself a medium set and a pistol and...an AR. I think that should suffice for the moment. I’m gonna go change, and I’ll meet you downstairs at the programming terminal?” 

“Sure thing,” he said, still smiling that goofy smile. 

Shaking her head and grinning to herself, she made her way to the locker room, wondering - yet again - what she had gotten herself into. 


	2. Aye, Aye Commander

A quarter of an hour later, Bryn arrived at the terminal to find Conrad already there, kitted up with his modded AR and pistol magged to his back. He was inputting the parameters into the terminal when she arrived, much to her surprise. 

“Did you want me to do that?” she asked. 

“Nah, I think I got it. Fairly simple interface, parameters are normalized, I understand the basics of terrain and whatnot.” 

“Okay,” she said, shrugging as she checked the seals on her suit once more. “I’m ready when you are.” 

After a few more moments, he turned to her and pulled his helmet over his head. “Done. Let’s do this.” 

She smiled and held her gun at the ready as she and Conrad stepped into the elevator, which would bring them down into the arena. 

When they exited the elevator, she looked around to get her bearings, noting immediately that he had selected the Prime Evil setting - a surprise, considering she thought a xenotechnology expert like himself would be more inclined to one like the blasteroid. 

Prime Evil featured a beach-like terrain, though there were many trees to provide cover - too many. It made spotting the enemies difficult. They could hide just as easily as she could.

“You picked a fun one,” she told Conrad with a half smile. “Stick to cover, and stick close to me. See those boxes over there?” She pointed to the familiar drop boxes that she knew were filled with extra clips and packs of medi-gel should they need them. “Those are supply crates. Conserve ammo as much as you can, but know that those are scattered throughout the arena. Essential on higher levels.” Suddenly a thought occurred to her. “Wait, what difficulty setting did you put this on?” 

“Super elite. It wasn’t available to me, but once I put in your name, a whole bunch of new things opened up to me, including super elite. I figured anything else would be too boring for you,” he answered. 

She just stared at him for a moment, knowing their prep time was winding down. “Conrad, the arena isn’t deadly, but these rounds still hurt. You’ll get bruised if your shields go down. And on super elite, you’re fighting top notch enemies that’ll use whatever they can to take you down. If you’ve never faced anything like this...it can be really overwhelming. Are you sure you don’t wanna reduce the difficulty? We still have time.” 

“I’m sure,” he said, removing the safety off his own weapon. “I trust you.” 

The massive timer on the scoreboard in the center of the arena was barely visible through the thick foliage, but once the countdown reached 5 seconds, an auditory alert sounded, ticking the seconds to 0. 

“Three, two, one...fight,” the mechanical voice said. 

Bryn immediately tensed up, but no shots came from the other side. She nodded to herself, acknowledging that this was going to be more of a cat-and-mouse game than an all-out brawl. Super elite meant the VI was smart - it knew if it started firing, it’d give away its position. 

She pulled up her omni-tool, but the radar was jammed. Yeah, that tracked, too. 

“We need to scout ahead,” she told Conrad quietly. “Omni-tool’s jammed and we need to get eyes on the situation if we can.” 

She scanned the field again and noticed a small rise to their right. “Follow me,” she murmured. 

They crept up the ridge, Conrad muttering behind her. She glanced at him and noticed he was fiddling with his omni-tool. “What’re you doing?” she asked. But he just waved his hand in her direction, his fingers returning quickly to the holographic interface, his gaze focused solely on the tech on his arm. 

Situational awareness wasn’t his strong suit, then. 

She kept her eyes and ears open, tense and waiting for that first sign of telltale fire coming from one of the enemies. But their entire journey to the rise was uneventful, nothing coming at them from any direction. 

Odd. 

She had just reached the pinnacle of the rise when a geth materialized right in front of her. But before she even had the opportunity to shoot, the machine seized and dropped to the ground. She whipped behind her and saw Conrad with a shit-eating grin. 

“That was more effective than I thought,” he said. 

“You did that?” she asked. 

He shrugged. “Fairly easy subroutines and firewalls to get around if you know what you’re looking for. And I may have tinkered with a geth or two in my lab over the years. Another thing to thank you for,” he tipped his head in her direction.

“Me?” she asked, taking up position against a tree and indicating he do the same behind the one next to her.

“Yeah,” he said, typing something into his ‘tool again. “You practically normalized relations between the quarians and the Alliance. Whatever you did with Tali’Zorah nar Rayya helped the Admiralty Board not see us as threats I guess. They wouldn’t share their research on AI development of course, but they let a few of us xenotech experts get our hands on some units to see if there was a simple way to shut them down.” 

A few more geth troopers popped up and between Conrad’s hacking abilities and her shooting, they were taken down easily. 

“Really?” Bryn asked, peering around the tree and taking down a third trooper. 

“Yeah. They were really nice. I talked to...an Admiral Han’Gerrel? I think?” He input another command into his ‘tool and the rocket trooper that had just popped up on the ledge to their right turned on its fellow geth and launched its rocket at them instead. “Anyway, they were really nice, like I said, although they were also really...enthusiastic. Just another thing to thank you for I guess.” 

“You’ll be working with a few quarians on that project,” Bryn told him as she shot down the rocket trooper as its hack wore off. 

Conrad turned to her and gave her a huge smile. “That’s amazing! I’ve always wanted to work with the quarians, but they were always sort of...ostracized from the greater scientific community. A shame if you ask me.” His fingers ran over the holo interface of his ‘tool some more. “There, that should do it!”   
  
Suddenly, the radar on her own ‘tool popped up, no longer jammed by whatever tech the geth holos were running.   
  
“Did you just override a geth hacking device with nothing but a standard-issue omni-tool?” she asked, as she exchanged some shots with a geth pyro that was trying to flank them. 

Conrad laughed. “This is hardly standard-issue,” he said, waving it lightly in front of him. “I’ve been modding ‘tools since I was like, six. Anything and everything I could get my hands on I tore apart and put back together. Drove my parents crazy.” He pressed another few buttons and the pyro Bryn had been shooting at exploded in a burst of flames.   
  
“Nice one,” she said, peering around the tree again to see if there were any more immediate threats in the area. Seeing none, she pulled up her now-available radar - thanks to Conrad - and scoped out the arena. There was a large collection of geth congregated on the far side of the field, in what looked to be a thick copse of trees. She noted the number and began formulating a plan to take them down. Although she still didn’t trust Conrad with a gun, he did seem to be a competent tech specialist. He could probably hold his own, but she still wasn’t going to leave him alone. 

She took a moment to project the radar in front of them, so it hovered in the air between them. “This is what’s ahead,” she said, pointing out the various small dots that indicated holo enemies. “A frontal assault seems less than ideal. Thoughts?” She didn’t know why, but she wanted to test Conrad’s tactical prowess. 

“Well…” he said, drawing out the word as he placed his hand on his helmeted chin. “We could split up, but that probably wouldn’t be smart. Seems like we’re more effective together, me hacking, you shooting. You’re really good at shooting, by the way,” he told her, and she felt her face begin to heat at the compliment. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before, but for some reason, coming from _him_ \- so simple, yet so genuine - it hit her differently. 

“Thanks,” she murmured, avoiding his gaze as her blush crept up even higher.   
  
“I agree a frontal assault - is that what you called it? Would probably be ineffective.” He paused for a moment, considering the map laid out in front of them. As he did, Bryn noticed a single target had broken off and was moving toward them. She leaned around the tree and past Conrad, twisting to aim between the two trunks they were hiding behind. Keeping an eye on the radar that now appeared in her HUD, she fired, taking down the enemy in two shots. It didn’t come close enough for her to identify which type of geth it was. She didn’t let it. 

Conrad jumped at the sound of the gun going off near his head, but otherwise kept still. _“Good for him,”_ she thought. 

“So, thoughts?” she asked again.   
  
“Hmm,” he started tapping one finger against his helmet’s chin. “What’s this?” He pointed at a thin line that ran across the width of the grouping of trees where the enemies were congregated. “That seems...out of place.” 

Bryn grinned, a small thrill running through her at Conrad’s success at picking up the tactical advantage Prime Evil gave them. “That’s a small raised wooden walkway that is about three metres off the ground. Perfect for getting a height advantage on an enemy. Good eye,” she said. 

He matched her expression. “Thanks,” he said. “So we get to that walkway, then - game over?” 

Bryn laughed quietly as she shot another trooper over Conrad’s shoulder. She knew the VI was taking it easy on them so far, testing out their mettle. She also knew that meant getting to the wooden platform wouldn’t be easy. 

“In theory? Yes,” she told him. “In practice? That’s gonna be a lot harder than it looks. This is super elite - what’s on the radar isn’t gonna be all the VI throws at us. Be on your guard.”   
  
“Aye, Commander,” Conrad answered, a grin splitting his face at the words. She wanted to roll her eyes at him, but a small part of her relished how much fun he was having with this. It made her happy to make others happy - always had. And to see Conrad so thrilled to be doing this with her...she couldn’t dampen his spirits. 

They began to head along the right side of the arena, moving slowly from cover to cover and taking out whatever geth came their way. She had a bit of trouble with one prime that decided to descend on their position faster than she had anticipated. She was so concerned about Conrad taking on a destroyer that she almost missed the prime’s telltale shotgun blasts. Thankfully she was able to take it down, but not without some creative evasive action. It took more out of her than it should have. 

“That was incredible, Commander,” Conrad said, coming to kneel beside her where she was crouched behind a rock, catching her breath. 

“Thanks, Conrad. The enemies are getting stronger - make sure you keep close to me, yeah?” she instructed.   
  
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a wink. A thrill shot through her at that, but she filed that away for examination later, after they had taken care of the immediate threat. 

“How’re your shields? You took some hits, yeah?” she asked, reloading her AR. 

His eyes lost focus for a moment and she could tell he was reading the information on his HUD. 

“Back to full...now,” he told her. 

“Great. We’re almost at the walkway, so let’s keep moving. Stay low,” she reminded him. He nodded and crouched down even further. 

The enemies were coming faster now, though they still weren’t too difficult for them to handle in tandem. Eventually, they made their way to the walkway, which provided just the tactical advantage she was looking for. She motioned for Conrad to follow her and they took up position along one of the railings, which provided a decent amount of cover. She peered over the side to get an idea of the terrain she was dealing with, and despaired to find the trees provided the holo-geth with ample cover as well. She’d need to lure them out somehow. 

“I can pick off a few from up here, but the trees are going to be an issue,” she told Conrad. 

“Leave that to me,” he said, working on his ‘tool again. “Lemme hack a few; that should force them out of their positions and let you take ‘em down.” 

She nodded her agreement and took aim at the head of a geth shock trooper through her scope. “Lemme know when you have the first one queued up, then I’ll start firing.” 

Conrad spent a few more moments with his ‘tool, then nodded to her sharply. “Ready.” 

“Great,” she said, shifting her weight to keep the blood flowing through her crouched body. “On my count. Three, two, one...go!” She squeezed the trigger and took out the shock trooper with one shot to the head. As soon as it went down, shots began to ring out, though not all were headed in their direction. The hack must have been effective then. 

“Good work,” she said, taking aim at a pyro who had turned its attention to their position on the walkway. She took it down with a few shots. “Fuck!” she exclaimed suddenly as her shields were pinged with a sniper shot. “There’s a ghost around here somewhere!” 

“A ghost?” Conrad asked, coming nearer to her. She held her weapon at the ready, but couldn’t spot where the fucker was. She pressed her back against the wooden railing as she scanned the tops of the trees. 

“Yeah, a sneaky motherfucker that can snipe you. It can also cloak, so it’s impossible to pick up on the radar.” 

“Ah,” he said, pulling up his ‘tool again. “Well, we’ll see about that.” 

“You need to look sharp, Conrad,” she told him. “Those things hop around and can show up anywhere. And two shots from its rifle can take down your shields. The third one? You’ll definitely feel that in the morning.” 

“I got it,” he said, still not focusing on their surroundings, but on the tech secured to his wrist. Rolling her eyes, she took out a few more destroyers that had noticed them and scanned the trees, waiting for the ghost to make another appearance. 

She had just spotted the telltale glimmer of its cloak when she heard the shot. “Conrad, move!” she shouted. But she was too late. The shot connected, knocking him back a few steps, out of cover. “Get back to the railing, now!” She moved toward him, but a rocket trooper had already locked on to his position and shot. The radius of the blast was enough to knock her back a few steps, and she knew Conrad’s shields had to have been depleted from the impact. If he took one more hit from the ghost…

She looked to him, and discovered he had been knocked on his back. He wasn’t moving. “Conrad!” she called. She took down the rocket trooper with a few shots of her own, then glanced at him again. “Verner, get up!” When he didn’t respond, she crouch-walked to where he was, keeping her eyes trained on those treetops to look for that fucking ghost. 

When she got to his side, she peered into his helmet. He was awake, but unmoving. Shock then, more than injury, she deduced. “Conrad, move your ass!” she told him through gritted teeth. 

“Aye, aye, Commander,” he said, slightly breathless. “Sorry, got the wind knocked out of me I think.” 

“That’s alright, but you need to get back into cover, allow your shields to regenerate.” Her own were only at 50% and slowly rising - too slowly for her liking. She didn’t have the same mods on this armour set as she did on her real one, and she was really missing that recharge assist right about now. 

Conrad sat up slowly, turning his body so he could push onto all fours and crawl over to the railing for protection. She covered him as he did so, taking out a few more shock troopers that were heading their way. She was so concerned with the troopers that were trying to flank them, however, that she completely forgot about the ghost for a moment. She was reloading her weapon when a shot rang out from her right flank and her HUD momentarily blinked out. _“Ouch,”_ she thought, not quite understanding that she had gotten shot in the head. 

“Commander!” she heard Conrad shout. She blinked slowly, unable to focus on the second shot that hit her in the shoulder, screwing her aim and causing her to shoot wide. 

“I’m fine,” she told him. She was just a bit slow at the moment. “I’ll be okay. We just have to take out that damn ghost.” 

“On it,” Conrad said, pulling out his AR and stowing his pistol. Bryn scanned the treetops again, looking for that slight shimmer. 

“There,” she said softly. She took aim, trying to steady herself so she wouldn’t miss. But before she could pull the trigger, a shot sounded from next to her. She looked to where the ghost had been, but it was gone. 

“Damn it, Conrad -” she began, but stopped herself, noting the glimmer of its cloak 2 metres to the left of where it had been. The holo-machine became visible as its cloak wore off, and another shot fired from the man next to her took the ghost down. 

She rounded on him. “What? How -” but was cut off by another prime that was headed their way, climbing the steps of the walkway, taking advantage of their distraction with the ghost. They both shot at it with their ARs, backing up as they did so, maintaining space between them and the prime to avoid its strong shotgun attacks. 

After about 15 seconds of shooting, they took it down, the prime exploding in a shower of holo-sparks. As soon as it’s remnants disappeared, the lights flashed and the mechanical announcer spoke again.   
  
“Game,” it said. 

Conrad cheered, but Bryn just spun to face him. “How?” she demanded again. 

“How what?” he asked, the smile slowly fading from his face. He reached up and removed his helmet, taking in a deep breath. “I don’t know how you all spend so much time in these suits. It felt hard to breathe in the helmet.” 

“You get used to it,” Bryn told him, but reached up to remove her own just the same. She held it to her hip as she spoke again. “How did you take out that ghost? Was it just pure luck?” 

“Oh that,” he said, smiling and blushing slightly. “Nah, I created a small algorithm to help plot its course. It’s a VI - not a true AI like the actual geth - and so the program I created was able to determine where it would hop to next. By startling it with my first shot, and using the data from the algorithm I created, I was able to predict where it would jump to once the shot prompted it to move, and thus focused my aim there. The timing did come down to a bit of luck, that's true - as did where the shot itself hit, I had no clue I’d be able to short out its cloak with that first one - but once its protection was removed, it was easy to take down.” 

“You created an algorithm…” Bryn trailed off, unsure if she was interpreting his words correctly. Was he saying that he was able to create a program to predict the geth’s movements in the few minutes between its first appearance and when he killed it? 

Conrad just shrugged, a small blush creeping up his face. “It’s what I do,” he said. “Work smarter, not harder, yeah? Let the enemies come to you. It was simple really -” 

But his explanation of how he created the program was cut off, as Bryn strode to him in two steps and grasped him behind the neck with one hand, pulling his face to hers and kissing him fiercely. 

He seemed startled at first, but quickly appeared to get his bearings, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him - or as close as they could get while wearing full armour. He flicked his tongue out against her lips tentatively, as if he was still unsure about the situation, but she opened quickly for him, trying to encourage him with her actions as much as she could. 

She didn’t know _why_ she kissed him, it just felt like the proper thing to do at the moment. He looked so sexy, explaining how he took down a geth ghost with no combat training at all, like it was no big deal…

The combat adrenaline, mixed with his good looks and brilliant mind were just too potent a combination for her to ignore. She felt the compulsion to kiss him, and so she did. And he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to be more than competent in this department as well. She wondered if his talents extended beyond that of mere kissing, and she realized she very much wanted to find out. 

She broke off the kiss - albeit reluctantly - and pressed her forehead against his chest plate for a moment as she caught her breath. She tilted her head back to meet his gaze, and she found his eyes searching hers, a tentative smile on his lips. 

“You wanna get out of here?” she asked, and that tentative smile broke into a full-fledged grin as he nodded vigorously.

“I’d love to,” he said. 

She couldn’t help but smile herself. “Great. Let’s kit down and I’ll meet you outside the lockers.” 

“Great,” he echoed, stepping back and letting Bryn lead them out of the arena.

* * *

She took her time getting dressed, spending longer than she usually did in the showers, thinking through her thoughts and feelings about what had transpired that night so far and what might occur, should the night continue the way it was heading. Part of her wondered if she was attracted to Conrad because of his adoration of her, but she immediately came to realize that she liked him _despite_ that. She never was one who enjoyed the fame - she hated the notoriety that came with being humanity’s first spectre, the hero of the Citadel, the person who came back from the dead...it all got a bit much sometimes. And she hated those who fawned over her. She wasn’t anyone special. She was just...Bryn. 

She realized with a start that _that’s_ what attracted her to Conrad - the idea that she wasn’t anyone special compared to him. Yeah she was still a good soldier - and a fairly decent tactician if she said so herself - but she wasn’t _unique_ in her competence. And seeing this side of Conrad, the side that could talk circles around her when it came to dark energy, made her comfortable in a way that she hadn’t been in...awhile. Add on to that the fact that she was attracted to him physically, and it’s no wonder she threw herself at him. 

She cringed a bit when she recalled the kiss. She wasn’t one to kiss just anyone, nevermind in a place as public as Armax. But she gave into her base instincts, just this once, and she was glad to know that her affections were returned. 

She sighed as his face came to her again. She really liked him. Which meant that she had to set expectations before anything happened. She cared about him too much to not remind him of who she was, and what her responsibilities were. She was in no position to start a relationship, given that she could die at any moment. While that was always a concern as a spectre - and a commander in the Alliance - with the reapers invading, her survivability odds had decreased tremendously. 

Not that she wouldn’t fight like hell to stay alive - she would. But she was also realistic, and didn’t want to imply anything that might lead to pain when it could possibly be avoided. 

Conrad was waiting for her when she emerged from the locker room. He looked handsome as his face lit up when he saw her. 

“Hey, Commander,” he said, coming over to her. 

She returned his smile. “We’re outside the arena, now, Conrad. Back to Bryn please.” 

“Aye, aye,” he said, and that thrill shot through her once again. What she wouldn’t give to be able to have the time to explore that with him. “So, you said something about getting out of here? Did you have a place in mind you wanted to go?” There was a glint in his eye, and it took considerable effort on her part to remain focused on what she wanted to tell him and not just grab his hand and leave at that very moment. 

She took a deep breath, trying to clear her head. “Before anything...progresses, I think we should have a talk about expectations,” she began, but trailed off as Conrad began shaking his head. 

“Say nothing about it,” he said, his expression more grave than she had ever seen it. “I know the state of the galaxy, and I think I can guess the expectations placed on you, if the news vids are any indication of all the work they have you doing. Heck, even the fact that it was _you_ who recruited me to that project, instead of somebody else, tells me just how much pressure you’re under. We’re living in the moment, which is all any of us can ask for right now. If this turns out to be more, if you find yourself wanting to look me up once the reapers are dealt with, then we can talk more then. But for now...for now, there’s just the two of us, just this night. If I died tomorrow, and I gave up this opportunity to be with you because I was too afraid of what might happen in the future, I’d never forgive myself. 

“You gave me your answer of what you’d be doing if you knew your death was imminent. I never told you mine. And mine is...I want to be wherever you are. I don’t know why, but when I’m with you, I just feel... _right_. Everything seems to make sense. I know I screw up a lot because my brain isn’t always present in a situation, and sometimes what I think is the right thing turns out to be completely wrong...but if I’m sure of anything, it’s that I want to be with you, no matter what.” 

He stopped talking and Bryn stayed silent, unsure of how to respond to his speech. Was she dreaming? Had she died somehow, and this was the universe’s version of an afterlife? People like that just didn’t _exist_ in reality, not in her experience anyway. But she felt the hum of the electricity running through the arena underneath her feet, heard the din of the crowd that was watching the latest match, and saw the sincerity and openness on Conrad’s face. 

If this was the afterlife, that was perfectly fine with her. 

Bryn took another breath. “As long as you know,” she said. 

“I know. And I accept it. Whatever you need of me - I’m yours.” 

Her heart swelled with some sort of emotion that was way too complicated to unravel at the moment, but she knew she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again. But that needed to wait until they were somewhere more private, because if she started kissing him again, she wouldn’t want to stop. 

Instead, she just smiled at him. “Let’s head to my place then.” She nodded her head in the direction of the exit and they made their way to the skycar terminal, falling into a comfortable chatter about their exercise in the arena to pass the time.

* * *

Anderson’s apartment - she still didn’t think of it as hers - was close to the Silversun Strip, so the trip over to her building was blessedly short. She led Conrad through the complex and allowed him to step into the apartment first to get an unobstructed view of the place. She wasn’t unaware of just how awesome her view was. 

He let out a low whistle as he beheld the apartment. “The Alliance doesn’t treat you poorly, does it? But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given your status,” he said, walking over to the windows to take a look at the scenery. 

“It’s not mine,” she said. “At least not permanently. But the person who _does_ own it is stuck on Earth at the moment, and he knew I needed a place to unwind when the Normandy gets serviced, so he’s letting me use it. It’s awesome, isn’t it?” 

“I’ll say,” he murmured. “I can’t believe I’m in _Commander Shepard’s_ apartment, even if it is just on loan.” 

Bryn rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Can I get you anything? A beer, some water? I got some good Canadian lager here from one of my crewmates. It’s not bad if you like that sort of thing.” When he didn’t respond, she turned to look at him, wondering if something was the matter. “Conrad, you okay?”

He blinked suddenly and shook his head slightly, as if bringing himself out of a trance. “Sorry. I’m still processing the fact that I’m here. With you. I…” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Never in a thousand asari lifetimes would I think that I’d be in this position. Thank you.” 

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said, with a small wink. “For all you know, I could be a bad lay.” 

Conrad’s mouth fell open at that, and Bryn couldn’t help but chuckle at his reaction. 

“What?” she asked. 

“You...you want to have sex with me?” 

“Umm...yeah? I thought that was sort of the point of me inviting you back to my place.” She felt her cheeks begin to burn, wondering if she hadn’t made her expectations clear after all, or if she had somehow completely misread the situation. “I’m sorry, did I -” 

But she didn’t have the chance to finish her thought, as suddenly Conrad was next to her and then she was swept up in his arms, his mouth covering hers in a searing kiss. She melted into him, opening up for him as his tongue pushed into her mouth, exploring. 

They stayed that way for longer than Bryn could keep track of, just absorbing each other’s energy as they kissed, tongues entwining in an exquisite dance. Their hands roamed over each other’s bodies, feeling the contours and curves that made them unique. Conrad ghosted his fingers over her shoulders and down her spine, causing her to tingle with pleasure. She moaned and pressed herself further into him as his hands lightly cupped her ass. He squeezed her cheeks tentatively. 

“You can do that again,” she murmured against his lips. He tested her boundaries, digging his fingers into her ass with increasing degrees of pressure. When he got to the level she _really_ liked, she nipped his bottom lip and sighed against his chest as her hips pushed back into his hands. “Perfect,” she said. 

“Interesting…” he murmured, almost to himself as he squeezed her again. She leaned into him. 

“What’s interesting?” she asked, moving her kisses to his neck and nibbling on his ear lobe. 

“Just conducting an experiment,” he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. “I love exploring your body and finding out what makes you moan. Clearly, doing this to your ass -” he squeezed her again when he said _this_ , “is one such way. I wonder what else makes you tick.” 

“Wanna find out?” she asked breathlessly, as need pulsed through her. 

“I do. Very much so.” 

As much as she didn’t want to remove his hands from where they were caressing her ass, she grabbed onto them and guided them up her back, leading him to the zipper of her dress. His eyes widened a bit when he realized what she was doing, but he just grinned as he grasped hold of her zipper. He paused before pulling it down however. 

“You sure you’re good with this?” he asked, meeting her eyes. 

She gazed into his cornflower blue irises, really noting for the first time just how pretty his eyes were. “Yes, Dr. Verner. You have my permission to conduct any tests that you see fit to find out what turns me on.” 

He groaned and closed his eyes for a moment, his mouth moving in silent words that she couldn’t make out. 

“Conrad?” she asked, wondering if something was wrong. 

But he just smiled, his eyes still closed for a moment. When he finally opened them, their blue color had darkened significantly - a sign of his desire, she thought. 

“This is too good to be true. So if it turns out to all be some sort of elaborate and very-real-feeling dream, I just asked whoever’s in charge of these things to let me see it to the end,” he explained. 

“I’m very much real, Conrad,” she said, covering his hand with her own again and slowly pulling down the zipper of her dress. “And I’d very much like you to keep doing what you were before.” 

“With pleasure,” he said. She let go of his hand and let him finish undoing her dress on his own. But instead of pushing the straps off her shoulders or lifting it up and over her head, he turned her around so he was looking at her back. 

“Conrad?” she asked, peering at him over her shoulder. 

But he just lightly touched the exposed expanse of her back, tracing the contours of her muscles with his fingertips. “Beautiful,” he sighed. He moved his attention to her spine and started kneading it with his knuckles, causing her to moan as the tension she had held there for weeks started slowly melting away. 

“God, don’t stop,” she moaned. 

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. She rolled her neck forward as he worked her muscles and leaned into his touch. “We need to get you to relax.” 

“Please,” she whimpered as he found a particularly tough knot. “I’ve needed a massage for so long, but haven’t had the time.” 

“I can tell,” he told her, working his way down her back. God, he really was talented with his hands. 

He massaged her muscles until they were practically butter underneath his touch. She was in such a state of nirvana that she didn’t even notice when he undid her bra strap, letting the garment get caught in the front of her dress that he hadn’t taken off her yet. He ran his strong fingers over her rib cage, rubbing along the space where the bra band had been. She leaned further into him as his hands neared the sides of her chest. He slipped his fingers underneath the cups and held her from her breasts’ underside, avoiding her nipples. But then he squeezed slightly, and she arched into his touch, wanting him to explore _more_. 

He fondled her for a few moments, then suddenly removed one hand to push on her back, right in the middle of her spine. She bent forward at the waist, the other hand on her breast controlling her way forward. 

“Hold on,” he told her huskily. She realized she was near the kitchen island and that he wanted her to grab it. She reached out to grasp the granite. As soon as she did, his hands left her body. She almost whimpered at their loss, but then she felt them again, squeezing her ass once more as they pushed the skirt of her dress up, gathering it above her hips. 

He whistled softly as he ran his hands over her now-exposed ass cheeks, the thong she wore offering little coverage. “You’re gorgeous,” he told her, placing a gentle kiss on each one of her globes. “Absolutely beautiful.” His fingers trailed tantalizingly close to her center, which was already dripping wet. But he didn’t give her what she wanted, instead continuing on to the top of her ass, where the cheeks met her back. He grasped the fabric that rested there and pulled the string out from the cleft it rested in. He pulled a bit further and the material rubbed against her clit, causing her to twitch a bit. “Interesting,” he said again. He moved her underwear against her again and she let out an involuntary groan. 

“I want to explore this more, but I’m a bit impatient. Do you mind if I move on?” he asked. 

“Whatever you want,” she answered, squirming a bit at the increased pressure on her clit. She was so close…

“Wonderful.” He pulled on the sides of her thong and pushed the piece down her legs. She stepped out of them and kicked them across the floor, out of the way. He massaged her butt again, spreading her wide. 

“God you’re beautiful,” he said. She flushed at the compliment and bent over a bit further, presenting herself to him. 

“You like what you see?” she asked. 

“God yes,” he said immediately, inhaling deeply. Before she could say anything else, she shuddered as she felt his tongue swipe the length of her, starting with her clit and ending at her entrance. 

“Conrad,” she moaned. 

He pulled back. “Oh, I’m sorry, is this okay?” he asked. “I should have asked, I’m sorry -” 

“It’s more than okay,” she interrupted him. “Please continue.” 

She heard the grin in his voice as he answered. “My pleasure.” He dove into her again, dragging his tongue up the length of her once more. She sighed. Seemed like he was good with more than just his hands…

He took his time exploring her folds, tonguing her lazily, pushing into her as far as he could, before withdrawing and running the flat side across her clit. He kept up that pattern for a bit, but changed the length of time he spent at any one part of her. It didn’t escape her attention that he was changing one variable at a time, working out which method got her the most excited. But she wasn’t complaining. It had been a _long_ time since someone gave her this much attention like that. 

“You feel amazing,” she told him with a sigh, after he spent a bit longer than usual swirling his tongue around her clit. “You’re really good at this.” 

“It helps to have such a wonderful test subject,” he said, grazing her clit lightly with his teeth and causing her to jump. “You’re _incredibly_ responsive.” 

“It’s easy to be responsive to such a talented tongue.” She shuddered as he bit her clit slightly harder. “ _Fuck_ ,” she moaned. 

“Why thank you,” he said. “But my tongue isn’t the only part of me that’s talented,” he told her as he pushed one finger into her sopping center. “Mm, you feel even better than I imagined.” 

“You imagined fucking me before, Conrad?” she asked, as she rocked her hips to give him better access. 

“Actually, no,” he said as he began moving his finger within her. “I didn’t think it appropriate to fantasize about you like that. But my brain works quickly.” He added a second finger, which slid into her easily. “And from the moment you kissed me in Armax, my mind started working through all the permutations, weighing the variables and conjuring up various possibilities. But I could never imagine anything close to the real thing. You’re incredible.” 

He added a third finger then and started spreading them, stretching her just right, and curled his fingers, brushing against that perfect spot inside. He lightly ground the heel of his hand against her clit as he pressed on that spot again, and she broke, an orgasm cresting over her. He worked her through it, riding the waves with her as the spasms took over her body, holding her steady as her legs began to shake. When she finally quieted down, he removed his hand from her and she immediately felt empty. As good as that was, it wasn’t _enough_. 

She felt him wrap one arm around her waist and he lifted her up easily, making her wonder if he was hiding some muscle underneath all that brainpower. He pulled her so her back was flush against his front, and she could feel his arousal trapped in his pants, pressing against her back. 

To her surprise, she heard him suck on one of his fingers, as if he was licking her juices off. She didn’t know why it shocked her, it just seemed a bit out of character for him. But if the day’s events taught her anything, it was that Conrad Verner was a lot more than he seemed. 

“Oh, how rude of me, do you want some?” he asked, holding out a wet finger in front of her. She shook slightly as she saw just how much of her had gathered on his hand and nodded, opening her mouth in silent invitation. He inserted his forefinger into her mouth and her lips immediately closed around it, her tongue swirling over the thick digit as she did her best to clean him. She always did like how she tasted. 

She sucked on it gently and Conrad groaned when she did so, pushing his cock against her back even more. “You also have a talented mouth,” he murmured against her ear as he began kissing along the side of her neck. He sucked gently on the spot where her neck met her shoulder and she sighed, sucking his finger a bit harder as she relaxed into him. He rocked against her and she felt him twitch as he pressed himself into her. 

He withdrew his finger from her mouth, which she let go of reluctantly, the pressure of her lips against him causing him to moan and bury his face in her neck. “You’re too good at that,” he said. 

“Am I?” she asked, biting her lip to keep from smiling. 

“No,” he chuckled, running his hands lightly up and down her arms. “You’re just making it really hard to take this slow. And I _want_ to take this slow. It’s my intention to savor you. I _need_ to savor you.” Pleasure coursed through her at his words, her whole body tingling with anticipation. “You’re perfect, and you deserve nothing less than the best.” 

“Well, you’re doing well so far,” she said, letting out an involuntary groan as he sucked on her neck again. “Really, I can’t complain. Just don’t stop.” 

“I have no intention of doing so until you beg me to,” he told her, nibbling on her earlobe. Her whole body convulsed at that and she ground her ass into him, hoping to spur him on. She was thankful he wanted to give her attention, but she wasn’t always the most patient. 

“I’m not begging you to stop, but I _am_ begging you to continue. I need more,” she sighed. 

“Ask and you will receive,” he said, bringing his hands up to her shoulders and grasping onto the straps of her dress. Slowly - too slowly - he pulled it down her arms, exposing her breasts to him fully for the first time. He pushed the material so it gathered at her waist where her skirt was already ruched up, though he took her bra and threw it in the direction she had kicked her thong. He ran his hands over her stomach and up the sides of her rib cage, kissing and sucking along her neck the entire time. 

Finally, after way too long in her opinion, he cupped her breasts again, though this time he allowed his palms to graze over her nipples. She shuddered again as pleasure flew through her. She squeezed her legs together and shifted her hips, trying to get pressure where she needed it most. 

“Patience, Commander,” he whispered in her ear and she almost came again at those words. She never had that kink before, but with _him_...for some reason, with him it was different. And she loved hearing her title in his voice more than she cared to admit.

“Fuck me, Conrad,” she moaned as he twirled her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. 

“Soon,” he murmured against her hair, pulling at her breasts and stretching her nipples to the point of pain. But again, instead of hurting, it sent a jolt of arousal straight to her core. What was this man doing to her? 

She rested the back of her head against his chest as he continued massaging hers, holding her against him. Instinctively, she tilted her face up toward his and he bent down, kissing her. As he did so, he drifted one of his hands down her stomach, caressing her lightly. He slipped his fingers between her legs and stroked her folds as his other continued pulling at her breast. She moaned at the touch, and he used the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth once more. 

“You’re more wet than before,” he murmured after a few moments. “I guess that means you like something I’ve been doing?” 

“Very much so,” she said, sighing as he drug his finger along her center. 

“Wonderful,” he saId, pushing into her once more. 

“Conrad…” she whined gently, though she opened her legs up to him to give him better access. 

“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked, kissing her again. 

“I want _you_ ,” she said, letting out a moan as he brushed his thumb against her clit. “ _Please._ ” 

“Commander Shepard, begging, for little old me?” he asked, withdrawing his hands from her and settling them along her hips. “Fascinating.” 

Then he quickly spun her around and grasped her ass, lifting her up and setting her on the countertop. 

“I take it I have something you want?” he asked, smiling softly. 

“I want you,” she said again, but this time grasping onto his belt loops and pulling his hips towards her. “I want to see you. I want to feel you and taste you.” 

“I’m yours,” he said simply. 

She pulled him closer still and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely. She then dropped her hands to the fastenings of his pants and undid them, pushing them and his boxers over his hips and as far down his legs as she could. Without breaking the kiss, he stepped out of his clothes and kicked them over in the direction she had sent her underwear. He toed off his shoes as she pulled on his shirt, telling him she wanted that item off as well. He did as she indicated and threw it in the same general area as the other clothes, before stepping back in close to her. 

But she put her hand on his chest, pausing him a few inches away so she could take him all in.

“You’re beautiful,” she said simply. She was pleased to find her previous assessment of his strength wasn’t completely wrong. While he didn’t have the cut muscles of her fellow soldiers, he did have some definition that told her he cared for his body as much as he could. 

“So’re you,” he said, swallowing and meeting her gaze. “Absolutely gorgeous.” He bent to kiss her again, placing his hands on either side of her hips, flat against the surface of the counter. She melted into him and ran her nails gently across his shoulders and down his back, tracing his flanks and trailing her fingers downward, towards his hips. She lightly ran her hands across his lower abdomen and she smiled against his lips as his muscles quivered beneath her touch. 

“Fuck,” he moaned, pressing his forehead against hers. He was breathing quickly. “You feel amazing.” 

“I haven’t even touched you yet,” she said, giggling softly. 

“You’ve touched me enough,” he said, a roughness to his voice that she hadn’t heard before. But she found knowing _she_ was the one who caused it pleased her more than she wanted to admit. 

She ran her nails gently across his length and smiled as it twitched in her hand. Then she grasped it and he pushed his hips forward, thrusting into her hand as she tightened around his head. She ran her thumb across it, spreading the precum that had already gathered there. 

“Bryn, if you keep that up, I’m not sure I can restrain myself…” He buried his face against her neck. 

“Then don’t,” she said simply. His head snapped up at that, his eyes meeting hers. They were slightly blown out with desire, but the intelligence was still there - he was still in control. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, shivering as she squeezed him lightly again. “Like I said, I want this to last…”   
  
“Conrad, I’m not a patient woman. As much as I would love to take the time to explore every inch of your body, my need for you inside me, to feel you stretch me, is too much for me to ignore. Please fuck me, Conrad. _Please_.” 

It seemed like a switch flipped at that moment. Gone was the shy and tentative scientist, who may have been a bit eccentric. Once he got her permission it seemed, he let all his restraints go. Growling, he pushed open her legs somewhat roughly, then ran his heavy length through her wet folds, lining himself up with her entrance. 

“Ready?” he asked, still seemingly needing to hear her explicit consent. Her heart swelled at his consideration. 

“Of course,” she breathed, scooting her ass forward along the counter to present him with the perfect angle. 

“Good,” he said simply, then pushed into her. 

She was so wet that he slid in easily, but she still felt every inch of him as he stretched her, filling her in a way that she hadn’t been for far too long. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” she moaned, dropping her head back as she rested her weight on her hands that she had placed behind her. 

“Good?” he asked, as he hilted himself fully inside her. 

“Perfect,” she murmured. 

Another grin split his face at her words, and he began moving inside her, slowly at first, as if testing out her limits. He would almost pull out fully each time, before slowly entering her again, allowing her to feel every ridge and vein alongside his length. Each time he pushed back into her, she shuddered, as his cock hit that perfect spot inside her. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” she sighed again as he kept up his steady pace. He kissed her slowly, then grasped her behind her thighs and lifted her legs to wrap against his waist, changing the angle of his penetration in such a way that it immediately sent her over the edge. He continued thrusting slowly inside her and kissing her as she fell, and the tenderness and restraint he was showing was enough to prolong her climax for a lot longer than she’d experienced in awhile. 

As she quieted, he broke the kiss, pressing his forehead to her own. “Okay?” he asked, slowing his movements inside her even further. 

“Don’t you dare stop,” she said, throwing her arms around him and lifting her torso to press against his own, changing the angle yet again. He slipped in even deeper, and they both groaned in tandem at the new feeling. 

It was his turn to swear. “Fuck, Bryn, you feel incredible. Are you sure you’re okay to continue?” 

“Have I begged you to stop yet?” she asked, pulling back slightly to meet his gaze. 

“No,” he said, searching her own eyes. 

“Then I order you to keep going, Dr. Verner.” 

He let out a low groan at that, before covering her mouth in another intense kiss. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, nipping at her bottom lip. She shivered as another wave of arousal coursed through her. He sped up then, his thrusts so intense that he had to grip her ass to keep her from sliding away from him on the counter.

“Oh god, Conrad, please don’t stop,” she said, tossing her head back as his increased speed started building another feeling of pleasure from deep inside her. 

He leaned down to suck on her neck as he kept up the breakneck pace, pushing into her over and over again. He bit down slightly as his hips snapped toward hers and the mixture of the pleasure and the pain sent her over the edge once more, this fall even further than it was before. Her whole body shook with pleasure as spasms ran through her and she clung onto his shoulders to keep from collapsing. 

He slowed his pace at that and laved his tongue over where he bit her, soothing the pain. “I’m sorry,” he said, dropping his head against her shoulder. “I don’t know what came over me.” He stilled inside her as her shaking began to subside. 

“I’m fine,” she said, cupping his face with one of her hands. “If you couldn’t tell, I kinda liked it.” She winked at him and his still hard length twitched inside her. “Besides, if it leaves a mark, I have access to a dermal regenerator that’ll take care of it in two seconds flat. But I don’t think you bit hard enough to cause anything.” She touched the spot with her fingers and found it didn’t hurt at all anymore. “Seems like it should be fine. And if not, like I said, I have a doc I trust who’ll fix it.” She squeezed around him as another convulsion ran through her. 

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, searching her eyes. The concern she found in his own almost broke her heart. 

“Of course I am. But my ass is a bit sore...maybe we can take this to the bedroom?” 

“Whatever you need,” he said, immediately moving to withdraw himself from her. But she tightened her legs around him for a moment.   
  
“Wait…” she said, reaching up to clasp her arms around his neck. She brushed her lips against his in a gentle embrace, before opening up and entwining his tongue with her own in a languid kiss. He moaned against her and moved inside her again, pushing deeper into her and she shivered around him again. 

“Fuck, Bryn,” he said, when she finally broke away from him. “That’s...you’re really good at that.” He shifted his hips inside her again and she groaned against his neck as he hit that sensitive spot again. 

“Bed, now,” she ordered, kissing him swiftly. 

“Yes, ma’am,” he said again and she nearly came apart again at his words. He withdrew from her and this time she let him, her brain still swirling with all sorts of emotions. 

She hopped off the counter and moaned slightly as the pressure left her butt. He stepped up close to her again, pressing his length into her back and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He ran his hands lightly across her collarbone and then trailed his fingers down her shoulders, caressing her back. His hands settled on her ass and he massaged her cheeks, digging his thumbs into the tight muscles there. She relaxed against him, resting her head on his chest again. 

“Thank you,” she murmured. “But you can continue that in bed. Come,” she ordered, holding out her hand to him. 

He grinned at her as he took it and let him lead her up the stairs and into her bedroom. 

“Oh wow,” he breathed as he took in the giant bed. “I bet we can make good use of this.” 

“I bet you’re right,” she said, spinning him so his back was to the bed. She reached up to kiss him again, bringing his face to hers, before pushing him lightly on the chest. “On your back now, doctor,” she said. 

And faster than she thought possible, he laid himself out on the bed, head against the pillows, legs spread slightly, his cock still glistening with the combination of her juices and his precum. 

He looked too delectable to pass up. 

She got on her hands and knees and crawled up his body, starting at his legs. She kept eye contact with him the whole time and his eyes were hooded with desire. 

“You look so sexy, Bryn,” he told her, his cock shifting slightly as her mouth approached him. 

“You say the nicest things…” she said, licking her lips and taking him in her mouth. 

“Fuck,” he hissed as he bucked up into her at the contact. “Oh my god, that feels fantastic.” 

She smiled as she twirled her tongue around his cockhead, reveling in the taste of their combined juices. “You taste fantastic,” she told him, as she let him go with a soft pop. “But it seems like you’re still good to go.” She crawled up him further, then straddled his hips, her knees on either side of him. “I wasn’t sure because we took a brief pause.” 

“You’re naked in front of me, I’ll always be ready to go around you. Plus…” he looked away from her for a second, a small blush appearing on his cheeks. But then he met her gaze again. “I like it when you order me around.” 

“Is that _so_?” she asked, placing her hands on his chest and lifting herself to line up with his cock. “Then I order you to fuck me, Conrad.” 

“Aye, aye, Commander,” he said softly, as he grasped her hips and shoved himself up into her as far as he could go. She groaned at the sensation of being filled, realizing with a start just how much she had missed him in just those few minutes they were apart. 

She rode him with abandon, their hips meeting each other halfway as they both moved toward each other in frenzied thrusts. She bent forward to capture his mouth with hers, and she moaned as his hands found her ass, massaging her and controlling the angle of his penetration. She squeezed around him as they came together, causing him to twitch and hit that perfect spot inside her each time they met. 

“Fuck, Conrad, I’m close,” she told him, as she broke off the kiss. “I want you to cum with me.” 

He twirled his tongue around one of her nipples before sucking on it gently. “Is that an order?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she sighed as he pulled on her nipple with his teeth. “Cum with me, Conrad.” 

“At once, ma’am,” he said. Then he grasped her ass again and flipped them over so he was on top, and he began pounding her into the bed at a breakneck speed. She clung to his neck and it was all she could do to hold on. She was getting so close…

He shouted her name as he finally spilled inside her, and the sensation triggered her own orgasm, this one more intense as he fell with her, each one egging the other on, furthering their pleasure. He continued thrusting inside her as she fluttered around him, until they finally settled down after what felt like an eternity. 

He kissed her fiercely as they began to relax, their breathing slowing and their pulses coming back to normal. She wrapped her legs around his hips, keeping him within her for a bit longer, not wanting him to go just yet. 

And before she gave herself time to reconsider, she asked the question that had been nipping at the back of her mind ever since he stepped in the door of the apartment. 

“Do you want to stay the night?” she asked. 

He pulled back from her shoulder to look at her fully in the face, searching her eyes. “Are you sure?” he asked. 

“Of course. I’d be happy to have you stay,” she responded. 

“There’s nothing more I would want in the whole wide galaxy,” he informed her, kissing her gently again. She felt him move inside her again slightly as they embraced. “Though I’m not sure how much sleep you’re gonna get and I know you probably have a busy day tomorrow -” 

She cut him off with another kiss and said something she wouldn’t have thought she’d be saying in a million years. “Conrad, I’d love nothing more than to have you keep me up all night. It’d be my literal pleasure.” 

He laughed and kissed her, rolling over so she was on top and he could caress her ass again. “Aye, aye, Commander.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this lived up to your expectations! Thanks again for being so patient with me! <3


End file.
